Sweet Charity
by Reefgirl
Summary: In which the Biker Mice find out just how generous the people of Earth can be when Throttle's Cousin ask's for supplies for the refugee's from the War


Rating: K+

Summary: The Mice on Mars are running short of supplies, they find out just how generous the people of Earth can be

Disclaimer: Don't own Biker Mice, I just play with them.

Authors Notes: Just a little something that came to me in the night, most of these plots do.

* * *

"Hey Carbine, you're early" said Throttle as he sat in front of the communicator, the General smiled back, slyly,

"It's not me that wants to speak to you" Carbine replied as the picture dissolved and was replaced by another.

"Hi Cousin" said the other mouse on the screen, her fur was the same colour as Throttle's, she was smaller, thinner and had finer features but the family resemblance was there.

"Tili, how are you? Why are you calling me here? Is Mom ok?" Throttle fired off questions in his excitement at the woman he'd looked on as his little sister all those years ago. Tili laughed,

"Slow down, I'm fine, I need a favour and your Mom is fine too, she's handling the paperwork, cutting through the red tape and making sure families don't get separated, as usual" Tili replied. Throttle smiled, that sounded just like his Mom. When he was six, his Mom had found out that Tili had been taken into care by the authorities after his aunt had been taken into hospital, he'd never seen his Mom so angry, even his Dad had been nervous and no-one frightened his Dad. His Mom had returned several hours later, still angry but with a very frightened Tili with her, she had still been crying when they went to bed so Throttle had stayed up all night, cuddling her and telling her he wouldn't let anyone be mean to her again. His aunt had died a few weeks later and he and Tili became very close after that, Throttle had taken a step back when they were in school, she had still been very timid but managed to stand on her own two feet. She'd surprised everyone by taking on the task of evacuating the women, children, sick and old to Phobos when the war broke out; there were still times when he could still see the timid little mouse that he'd protected all those years ago, but not often. Vinnie and Modo had come out to see what had gotten Throttle so excited,

"Hey hey hey if it isn't little Tili Timid Tail, didn't you grow up well" said Vinnie. Throttle and Tili glared at him,

"It's a shame you didn't Vincent" Tili snapped, Vinnie had teased her unmercifully at school, so much so that Throttle, for the first and only time in his life, had hit Vinnie in anger. Modo smiled at her,

"Hi Tili, are my Momma and Sister ok?" he asked, she smiled shyly at Modo, only Throttle knew of the enormous crush she had on him.

"Your Momma's running the nursery and Myah's setting up another school, for the youngsters, they're growing up fast" Tili replied.

"So what's this favour you want?" Throttle asked, Tili sighed,

"We're running short of everything up here" she said,

"I thought Carbine got you all the supplies you needed" Vinnie remarked.

"She sends us whatever we can't grow in the hydroponics and arboretum, but that's not what we're short of, it's the basics we need, sheets, blankets, clothes, material for shrouds, non essential medical supplies, dressings, bandages, that kind of thing. Is there anyway you can get those things on Earth, it's a long shot I know but we're getting desperate up here," Tili said.

"I'll see what I can do," said Throttle. They all knew it wasn't going to be much, they had no money and they couldn't ask Charley to help, she was having enough trouble keeping the Last Chance afloat.

"Hey guy's, was that Carbine?" Charley asked as she wandered in,

"No, it was my cousin Tili" Throttle replied,

"Not bad news is it?" she said, noticing the despondent looks on their faces.

"Tili runs the refugee centre on Phobos, where we send the women, children, sick and old and..." Modo started,

"Modo" Throttle warned, he didn't want to make Charley feel obliged to help,

"Well...Charley-mam we need your advice, the centre is running short on things, Tili wants to know if we can help, we don't have the money to get what she needs, is there anyway to help, that won't cost too much?" Modo asked.

"What does she need?" Charley asked,

"Sheets, blankets, clothes, material, basic medical supplies, the kind of thing you always need but no-one ever remembers to send" said Throttle. Charley gave the problem a lot of thought, she had to tread carefully, the Martian's were a proud people,

"Ok, what we do here on Earth during this kind of situation is have a Charity Drive" the Mice started out of their seats "please listen to me, there's nothing shameful in accepting a little charity. The people know who you are and why you're here, you've saved the city enough times and it's about time we returned the favour, let me put up some posters and make a few calls and we'll see what happens" she said. The Mice nodded, they could suck up their pride for a bit, if it meant the refugee centre got what it needed.

* * *

_One month later..._

"Ok that's the last of them from the Last Chance," said Dave, the spare parts delivery driver,

"Thank you so much for running them over here and thank your Grandma and her friends for making all those blankets and quilts," said Charley,

"Glad to be of help Miss Charley, the Biker Mice are a good bunch, it's nice to be able to pay them back," said Dave as he drove off. Charley looked over the boxes that were gathering on Quigley Field; it seemed that sentiment had run across Chicago, the people of the city had done themselves proud, digging deep to help the Martian Mice. Dave's Grandma and her friends at the Senior Centre had made blankets, the Girl Scout's had collected clothes and toys for the children, the manager of the supermarket had a bin where people could donate household items. Charley had explained that the Martian's didn't need food or medicines but they did need everything else, the other shopkeepers and market traders had only been too glad to help too, donating end of line goods to her cause. The people who hadn't been able to donate as much had helped out by packing boxes, running donations to the Last Chance and picking up collections, Charley had been proud of the people of Chicago for rallying to the Martian's cause. The sounds of bike engines bought her out of her musings, the Biker Mice had bought the last of the boxes from the garage,

"Man, I'm glad we called Carbine yesterday and told her to send a cargo ship, Tili would have had to make 2 trips otherwise, I had no idea we'd collected _this_ much" said Vinnie.

"I can't believe the people of Chicago would do all this for a bunch of mice on another planet," said Throttle in wonder,

"We Earthlings aren't all a bunch of selfish money grabbers out for what we can get, we are known for pulling together to help those less fortunate in times of need" said Charley. Modo patted her arm

"We know that Charley-Mam, but this is so much more than we ever expected, we'll always be grateful to the people of Chicago for this," he said. They all looked up at the sound of an engine as ship quickly blinked out of view. The ship landed and Tili, Rimfire and a couple of crew came out, Throttle swooped Tili up in his arms and almost hugged the breath out of her,

"Hi Uncle Modo" the big grey mouse hugged his favourite nephew. Rimfire wriggled out of the embrace and reached into his jacket pocket "Mom and Grandma asked me to give you this" the young mouse said, Modo accepted the package with a tear in his eye; it had been so long since he'd had word from home. Tili handed packages to Throttle and Vinnie,

"From your Mom and Vinnie yours is from your Cousin Willie," she said,

"Willie! Man I'm gonna enjoy this" Vinne yelled. Throttle pulled Charley forward,

"Tili, this is Charley, she's the one who organized all...this" he said as he waved his hand at all the boxes plied up on the field. Tili's mouth hung open

"This...all this is for us?...How..." she stuttered,

"The people of Chicago were only to pleased to help, we owe the Biker Mice so much, keeping Limburger in his place, it's the least we could do" Charley replied. Tili ran over and threw her arms around the Earth woman,

"Thank you so much, I don't know how we can ever repay you" she said,

"Look after yourself and the next generation of Mars so the Universe will know not to mess with Martian Mice" Charley replied. Tili nodded,

"Ok let's get this loaded" she yelled to Rimfire and the crew, Charley handed her a clipboard.

"Ok, over there we have sheets and blankets, next to them there's clothes, Gents, Ladies, Kids and Babies, that's cleaning stuff, soap powder, disinfectant, bleach, soap, detergent, sterilizer that kind of stuff and finally that's other stuff, diapers, toys, books, school stuff. Anything you can't find a use for, trade it for something you do need, we won't be offended" Charley said. With the ship loaded and goodbye's said Charley and the Biker Mice waved Tili and Rimfire off.

"I knew the Earthlings were a nice bunch, but what they've done for us is...well...amazing, they've saved the refugee centre" said Rimfire, Tili nodded,

"I can see why Throttle likes it so much here" she replied.

"Yeah, Uncle Modo likes it here too and the couple of times I've been here it's been a blast" said Rimfire,

"After the war I'd like to come here" Tili said,

"Just say there word and I'll bring you" said Rimfire with a shy smile.


End file.
